The Necessity of Fruit Bearing Part 2

Pastor Mike will be speaking on The Necessity of Fruit Bearing. He will be in John 15: 1-11.

You don’t like that pruning, but I assure you that as you and I receive by faith this pruning in our life, that God is doing something special that we might bear more fruit in our life. Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders, and today you are listening to the Hope Worth Having program, and we are delighted that we can come and study the Bible together and continue to grow deeper as we are learning more about what the Scriptures teach us.

Our goal at Hope Worth Having is to break the Bible down, verse by verse, and to learn what God is really saying to us in our life. We’re not looking for other mystical sayings or experiences, but we’re just opening our Bible up and studying the Word of God because we know that His Word is not only sufficient for our salvation, but it’s sufficient for our spiritual growth, and we are looking forward to that opportunity today.

So I want you to take your Bible and go to John chapter 15. We’re continuing our study on the necessity of fruit -bearing. God is calling all of His followers to bear fruit, and what does that mean, and what’s that all about?

Well, we’re going to learn more about that in John chapter 15 today. It always bears fruit to God. Even in our Scripture reading, John is very bold to say that those who truly believe in Jesus Christ do not practice sin.

He is not saying believers don’t ever sin because we do, but we don’t practice it. We don’t practice a lifestyle of sin. And because we do not practice a lifestyle sin, that when we do sin, we are very sensitive because of the Spirit of God working in us, and that our conscience is trained, and that it is.

is shaped and taught by God’s word that we are repentant, we are humble, and we come to God and say, Lord, I have failed you, I have sinned against you, and I confess my sin to you. That is the manifestation of a true believer.

Remember, in 1 John 2 .19, we are reminded that John says they went out from us, that there were those who claimed to be Christians, and they left the fellowship, they left the body of Christ, but they were not of us.

For if they had been of us, they would have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us. I’m not trying to make everybody here skeptical of each other, but I am saying to you this, that the Bible tells all of us…

that we are called to examine our lives spiritually and that even as parents, one of the great things you can do is challenge your children to examine their spiritual life, to challenge them to say, what fruit are you bearing?

You claim to be a Christian. You claim to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. You claim that you have repented and believed in Him. And yet what fruit do you bear that manifests itself that you are a true child of God?

Now hear me. The evidence of your faith and the assurance of your faith is not that you prayed a prayer, that you signed a card, that you went to a class, that you were baptized. These are not the assurances of your salvation.

The assurance of your salvation is the fruit that you bear. It is the endurance of your faith. It is the Spirit of God bearing witness with your spirit that you truly are a child of God. When we say to you that the Spirit bears witness, how does the Spirit bear witness?

I’ve taught you this, but I must remind you this morning again. How does the Spirit bear witness to you? Remember these, they’re three C’s. And if you remember these, they will help you in not only developing your own spiritual walk with God, but helping others, perhaps even your own family, to know whether they are truly saved, whether they are truly assured of their faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

How does the Spirit bear witness? Number one through conviction. The Spirit of God convicts us of sin. The spirit of God lives inside of us. That every time we sin against God, that we fail God, that we are disobedient to God, my friends, the spirit will convict you.

You see, the most miserable people, I know you’re gonna disagree with me, but it’s okay. But the most miserable people are not sinners. Because sinners are out there having a time of their life. The most miserable people are believers who are living disobedient to God.

Because the spirit of God is working on them, convicting them. And so how do you know that you are a believer? You don’t even get to enjoy sin. You are convicted immediately. The spirit of God lives in you.

And he bears witness that you are his through conviction. He bears witness that you are his through conviction. that you are His by changing you, by changing you. You see, you look back at your life and you see that you are changed.

Your desires are changed. Your motives are changed. Your actions are changed. Your behaviors are changed. I’ve told you before, and I’ll tell you again, that when I was a little boy and came to Christ at the age of 11, it wasn’t that I was just strung out on drugs and living a reckless life.

There were many things in my life that were wrong, but at the heart of it, I was a sinner who had a sinful nature. Part of that manifestation of that sinful nature was that I spoke very dishonorably to God by cursing and cussing and using foul language.

But when I came to Jesus Christ, my friends, I want you to know that my desire to curse and my desire to speak filthy language left me that the Spirit of God convicted me, that before that, I did it just aimlessly.

It just was what I had always heard as a little boy, as I grew up in my home, as I went to school, as I rode the school bus. No matter what, all this language was all around me. I just thought it was normal, and everybody should do it.

But when Christ came into my life, I was convicted, and God changed me, and old things began to pass away, and behold, all things began new. Now before I came to Christ, I have to tell you, I had no knowledge or understanding of the Bible or Jesus.

I know this is hard to believe, but in America, I had no knowledge of the Bible. or Jesus. I didn’t even know nor did I pay attention that there were these buildings on different places throughout the community called churches and that people gathered and I tell you that before I knew Christ I had no desire to gather with God’s people but after I came to Christ even as 11 year old boy I couldn’t wait to get to church.

Now why is this? What is this change in Mike that my mother would say Mike you are weird that you have changed. Now I did not fully recognize this change I was just following the desires of my heart that God had put in me by the Spirit of God as he had planted a new heart within me and I not only desired to get with God’s people but when my bus driver said hey Mike You want to come Sunday night?

We get together on Sunday night and do it all over again. I said, amen. I want to come. You guys do this twice a day, I’m all in. And they said, guess what, we do it on Wednesday too. I couldn’t believe it.

The church gathered three times a week. I was so ecstatic and so excited. I mean, it was like, you know, I loved sports growing up. And I loved to practice. I loved to work on whatever sport I was playing and I couldn’t wait to get with the team and to work together and enjoy and getting better and trying to make it better.

You never had to beg Mike to go to practice. And you didn’t know the church never had to give me a Twinkie or a toy or a bicycle to come to church. Because in my heart, God had changed me and the spirit of God lived in me and I couldn’t wait to be at church Sunday morning, Sunday night and Wednesday night.

I know, some of you are squirming, it’s okay. I know you’re contemporary, you’re modern. You’re smarter than Mike and I get it. And you don’t need to be here Sunday night and Wednesday night. You get enough Jesus on Sunday morning because Pastor Mike preaches 40, 45 minutes.

That’s enough to keep us all busy, amen. I tell you that when I came to Christ, I could not put the Bible down. Before, I didn’t even know there was a Bible. I tell you that I opened my Bible, my mother would say to me, Mike, what are you doing in your room?

I mean, back then we didn’t have cell phones, I know. There was a world, young people, before cell phones. There was no social media. There was no Facebook, there was no Instagram and there was no Snappy Chappy, none of that stuff.

I’m just telling you that I went to- to my room to read my Bible. Most kids go to their room to play video games, to do social media, to text and whatever, but when I came to Christ, I could not get enough of his word.

You say, Mike, you’re just one of those unusual people. No, my friends, see, God does not save me different than you. And he did not save you different than me. And I know that I have a different role and responsibility, but I’m just telling you that when the Spirit of God came in me, he started to change me.

The third evidence that the Spirit of God bears witness to you that you are his is the word comfort. It’s first conviction, it’s second change, it’s third comfort. It is that when you are hurting, when you are grieving, the Spirit of God comforts you, is there to help you.

is to help you to walk through the valley, through the trial, and there are many of you that you have walked in deep waters, and the world has said how, and your testimony only is simply this, that Christ is with me, and that he helps me bear the burden of my sorrow, and that he helps me to walk through this season of grief in my heart.

They have looked at you and they have seen peace, and they have seen joy in your life. This is the manifestation that the Spirit of God lives in you. You have walked through divorce. You have walked through death.

You have walked through diseases and health issues, and your burdens have been so heavy that you finish your nights weeping to God, and it is the Spirit of God that has embraced you, upheld you, that has empowered you to keep moving forward for Christ, while others may have quit and given up, the Spirit of God lives in you so vibrantly that even though you could not articulate the depths of your heart’s grief,

the Spirit of God has taken your heart and taken your prayers and your requests to the throne of grace, and you have found help, and you have found grace and mercy in the time of need. My friends, if you’ve been there, and many of you have, that is your assurance that you are His, that you are a child of God.

And this is why I say to you that I do not want you to walk away first thanking you’re a child of God just because you signed a card I do not want you to walk away with lacking assurance not understanding how God works in your life even as a 14 year old boy I struggled with the assurance of my salvation and wondered was I truly a believer and it was my pastor who taught me and helped me to understand how we know that we are truly his and so those who are not truly his they are unfruitful and they are cut off but I also want you to learn this morning that the fruitful are pruned the fruitful are pruned look at our text again and notice what he says in verse 2 that he purges he purges it that it may bring forth more fruit.

You see, what God does is He purges us, is He prunes us, if you will. He cuts back. Some of you have flowers, some of you have bushes, some of you have more landscaping than you want, amen? I tell you that I do not want any more bushes in my yard, okay?

I need a little maintenance life, okay? And I do not want to have to go out there and fight the beast of a bush that’s overgrown, okay? But thankfully, God has not given up on us, and that He recognized that there are times that we might bear much fruit that He needs to prune us.

He needs to cut back. And so, we would go in there and tackle those bushes and we’d cut them. And then finally, I just said to Cherokee, come cut all these trees. Get rid of them. Cut them down, cut them back.

It doesn’t matter what you charge me, just cut them back. And I don’t want to tell you, He gave me the pastor’s discount, which is an extra 10%. No, just kidding. And what I found is that these trees, every time they’re cut back, they keep growing.

And they get bigger and bigger, and they keep bearing more fruit. Today, God may be pruning you. God may put you in a season of purging. You don’t like that purging, and you don’t like that pruning, and you are frustrated and questioning and doubting.

But I assure you that as you and I receive by faith this pruning in our life, that God is doing something special that we might bear more fruit in our life. Why? Because true Christian bear fruit true Christians bear fruit the Bible says we are his workmanship created in Christ Jesus unto good works which God has before ordained that we should walk in them Jesus reminds us that a good tree cannot bear bad fruit and nor can a bad tree bear good fruit and so all believers bear fruit and in order to help us bear more fruit Jesus will allow adversity into our life he will allow trials into our life he will allow testing into our life he will allow transitions into our life and in so doing as he is pruning and purging our life it is that we down the road may bear much fruit for God Jesus said in Mark 4 verse 20 these are the ones sown on good ground who hear the word accept it and bear fruit some 30 fold some 60 and some 100 we do not all bear the same amount of fruit but friends if you are a true believer you will bear fruit you will bear fruit in your life when the Bible uses this word purge or prune it means to make clean and in a sense what he is doing is that he is purging us of our sins and our motives he is drawing us into his word to cleanse us look at verse 3 you are clean through what the word God cleanses you through the word the reason you should be a faithful child of God and I know that you won’t hear me but I will still say it whether you respond to it or not the reason that you should come hear the word of God taught Sunday morning Sunday night and Wednesday night at the open door church is so that God’s Word can cleanse you some of you are struggling in your walk with God and there’s no victory in your life it is because you have disconnected yourself from the process and the means of grace that God purges you and cleanses you that you have bought into you have bought into the lie of the devil that all you need is a little bit of Jesus to get into heaven and just get enough to slide in there and just make it by the skin of your teeth and it’s okay but yet God is calling you to bear much fruit for his cause and for his glory he is calling you to make greater impact for the gospel of Jesus Christ and yet we want to change our nation,

and we get frustrated at our politicians, and we wonder how can this nation end up as it is. I tell you why it is what it is. It has nothing to do with the world and everything to do with the apathy that exists in the church.

For the church is no longer being cleansed by the word of God, for people assembled together to be entertained and to be emotionally moved rather than the word of God being opened up to them and taught to them.

This is essential in your life. This is how God works. He prunes us through His word. As the disciples received cleansing through the word, God did His mighty work in preparing them for a greater work for His glory and His cause.

We have the whole Bible. We are called to read it, study it. We are called to follow it, apply it. The Bible says, be not conformed to this world, but to be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

God’s people lack discernment because they are not saturating their selves with the word of God. They cannot discern what is good and evil. They cannot discern what is right and wrong because they’re not in the word.

The devil has convinced you that you need to do this and you need to do that, and he’s shining, all these shining things are around you. They’re not necessarily bad, but they’re keeping you from the word.

They’re keeping you from the Bible. And don’t think that Facebook’s not right on that list of the devil. And I’m just telling you that if you spend more time, you’re not gonna like me, I’m sorry. But you’re gonna have to deal with it.

But if you spend more time on Facebook than you do God’s word, there’s something wrong with your spiritual life. There really is. God wants you to bear fruit. And as we bear fruit, we will bear fruit as we stay connected to him.

Now the third thing I want you to note is the warning that he gives us. So Jesus tells us in verse two and three that we’re to bear fruit. In verse four and five, he tells us we’re to bear more fruit, okay?

And you can’t do it without being connected to him. And then we learned that as we dive into this text, that he’s calling us to bear much fruit. So he is taking us through this process of even growing in our fruit bearing.

That as we, as believers, we should be bearing more fruit as we grow and mature in our faith. But he… He gives us a warning in verse 5. He says, I am the vine, you are the branches. He that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.

For without me you could do nothing. If a man abideth not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and men gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. Those who remain connected and abiding to Jesus will bear fruit.

They will bear more fruit and they will bear much fruit. This is the way God works. And our fruit bearing has nothing to do with our skill sets. It has nothing to do with our hard work. It has nothing to do with our discipline, but has everything to do with Jesus is the source of our strength.

That’s why Jesus says you could do nothing without me. The Apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians, 4 -7, we have this treasure in jars of clay, referring to our bodies, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.

The unlimited power of God that is available to all who love Him, who call upon His name, gives us hope for victory over our sins. You can have victory. You can have victory over sin as a believer because of what Christ did on the cross for you.

He went to the cross to take care of your past. He came out of that grave to take care of your future. And therefore, you have victory in Jesus as a believer. That is why the Apostle Paul said, I can do all things through Christ, which strengthens me.

You don’t have to be a victim. The world likes victims. They promote victims. And people blame everybody else. And there’s victimology that’s running rapid in our culture and our society. But it goes against the word of God.

The Bible teaches us you’re more than a conqueror, that you are a victor in Jesus Christ. And so this morning, you do not have to say, the devil made me do it. But rather, you can rely fully upon the Lord Jesus Christ through the power of His Spirit to be a victorious Christian.

And that when you fail God, that you can come to God and find the grace and the mercy as you own your sin and you admit it and confess it to God. Don’t blame other people in your life. Don’t blame your parents in your life.

Quit blaming your circumstances and say, Lord, I take personal responsibility for my life. my sin, and I am trusting in you to not only cleanse me, but to empower me to do all things through you which strengthens me.

If you and I would today regularly and consistently admit our total inability to live a godly life before God, and if we would confess that we are sinners saved by grace, then I tell you that God can use a humble heart like that, and that He can use a person who recognizes that the source of their strength is Jesus.

But yet if you choose to be prideful, and you choose that you’re going to do it your way, and you will miserably fail as a believer, you will fail as a parent, you will fail as a worker in the workforce you will fail in your following Christ you will fail in every area and role in your life when you try to do it on your own but when you trust Christ then friends you will be a great success because whether it’s you whether it’s your ministry you can do nothing without Jesus can God’s people say amen but what about those who do not remain connected the Bible says you’re gonna be thrown away verse 6 helps us understand this a little more when Jesus says the father sees the unfruitful branch and he removes it he removes it a severed branch is an unproductive branch and it is a lifeless branch and if you are not bearing fruit there is a warning in this text that the Bible says they will be cast into the fire and they are burned they are cast into the fire reminding us that fire is always associated with God’s divine judgment remember the scriptures teach us that God is a consuming fire Paul said to the Thessalonians that when Jesus comes he’ll come in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ are you bearing fruit are you truly manifesting some fruit in your life that says I am connected to the vine I am a branch that is connected to the vine I wish I had time but I would encourage you on your own to study verse 7 through 11 where you have the promise that Jesus gifts and he promises us power in our prayer life and he promises us joy that will remain with us.

Well the last couple weeks we’ve been learning about the necessity of fruit bearing and if you’d like to get the complete message you can go to our YouTube channel, you can go to our website, all this information, all these sermons are archived and you can take advantage of this opportunity.

Reach out to us, make sure you go to our website, hopeworthhaving .com. On hopeworthhaving .com you have access to all of Pastor Mike’s teachings and I want you to remember that you can get as much or as little of Mike as you can stand.

So it’s a great opportunity for you to continue to grow in your faith. We have videos, we have audio, we have podcasts, We have a lot of opportunities for you to learn. So make sure you take advantage of that.

Again, that’s HopeWorthHappening .com. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ, there is hope worth having. HopeWorthHappening .com